HV 



The Junior Republic 

AN ADDRESS 

Bl* 

William R. George, Esq. 

DELIVERED BEFORE THE SOCIETY OF MAYFLOWER 
DESCENDANTS IN THE COMMONWEALTH OF PENN- 
SYLVANIA* MONDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1909 





Glass yAV$7^ 

Book .0. S4IV5 5 



The Junior Republic 



The Junior Republic 



AN ADDRESS 



HY 



William R. George, Esq. 

DELIVERED BEFORE 

THE SOCIETY OF MAYFLOWER 
DESCENDANTS 

IN THE 

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA 
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1909 




PHILADELPHIA 
PRESS OF J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY 

1910 



Copyright, 1910, By 

Society of Mayflower Descendants in the Commonwealth 

of Pennsylvania 



©CI.A259801 



The Junior Republic 



MR. President, Ladies, and Gentlemen : I do not know 
how much you know about the Junior Republic. I have 
an idea that some of you are quite well acquainted with the 
general plan and scope of the work, while others have a very 
vague idea of what we are like. I have one great desire to- 
night, and that is not to leave this place until every one of 
you understands clearly the plan and scope of the Junior 
Republic. 

We have got a lot of ground to cover, and I want to cover 
it in a very short space of time. I want to bring it to you 
in the best way. Perhaps a good thing to do to accomplish 
this end will be to give you a little idea of the way the thing 
came about. I had the good fortune to be born up in the 
country, and I was there until I was fourteen, and then I 
went to New York City. I went into business for myself in 
New York City and got on fairly well; but I would have got 
on still better if I had not paid more attention to other people's 
business than I did to my own. I mean, by that, I took great 
interest in certain young people, — boys and girls from that 
portion of society commonly known as the other half. In the 
summers I went to my old home in Central New York and spent 
my vacations. One day it occurred to me it would be a great 
scheme to take some of those boys and girls with me for a fresh 
air outing. So I secured tickets and started with about fifty 
choice specimens for Freeville, in the summer of 1890. We 
had great fun. They will never forget it, and I am sure the 
farmers who had nice sweet harvest apples will not forget 
it ; but the people were very tolerant, and we had a splendid 
time. We made such a good impression that we were invited 
to come the next year. The interest extended beyond the little 



THE JUNIOR REPUBLIC 



company of boys and girls I had with me, and, with joint voice, 
I was told, that if I would bring a larger number the next 
year the country people would be glad to supply the provisions. 

So the next year I took two hundred, and the next year 
I took a still larger crowd, and the interest continued to 
extend through that section of the country, and so it went on 
for several years. We were drawing attention from the Penn- 
sylvania line up to Lake Ontario. Everybody seemed to think 
that a great work was being done, and the people were greatly 
pleased. They thought that great good was being done the 
boys on account of the fact that we had an opportunity to 
hammer lots of patriotism into them and teach them to sing 
hymns, — religious, patriotic, etc. 

That was all right so far as it went, but I began to have 
a suspicion that the work was doing harm rather than good. 
Why? Because I came to the point where I concluded that 
those boys and girls were estimating the good time they had by 
the amount of clothes and provisions that they brought back to 
the city with them on their return. The people were so gener- 
ous and the boys, and girls as well, were claiming what they 
received, as a right. Every day boys came to me and would 
say, " Mr. George, are we going to get tings when we go 
home? " " What we got last year was good: Are we going to 
get the same tings dis year? ** or " We had a good deal better 
time last year dan dis year." So I began to feel that they were 
being pauperized : that the work was doing harm, because they 
were claiming charity as a right, and I made up my mind that 
something must be done. I had the opportunity of studying 
the city end of the problem, and, when I visited the homes of 
these young people, I discovered I was a veritable Jonah. As 
quickly as the parents discovered I was interested in their 
offspring, the father would lose his job, and then they would 
ask the question if it was possible for me to supply provisions 
while he was out of a job: and, on investigation, I discovered, 
in certain instances, that he had not lost his job at all. They 
were clamoring to get something for nothing. It was rather 

discouraging. It all came to a climax. The next year when 

6 



THE JUNIOR REPUBLIC 



the boys and girls asked me what they were going to get, I 
turned to them and said, " Can you tell me any reason why 
^ you should be given things? Here you are having a good time, 
getting lots of strength and fresh air. Why should you be 
given clothing and provisions and other things in addition to 
all this?" A little black-eyed Italian girl straightened up, 
looked me in the eye and said, " Mr. George, what do you 
think we are here for anyway? " I made up my mind that that 
settled it, and I determined to write a letter to the people 
declaring that the work was doing absolute harm, and also 
declaring that I was going to discontinue it. 

But I refrained, for I knew that they needed the things. 
The question was how to get the things into their possession 
without injuring them. I thought it deserved one more year's 
trial, and so I determined to perform some of the most radical 
treatment the next year, and I carried out those intentions. 
The next year I did some very, very radical things. To make a 
long story short, we hit upon a certain scheme which came 
out in this wise. It seems I had a rather lawless element with 
me, which had been hand-picked for that special qualification. 
As a result of that, I was obliged to make all the rules and 
regulations for the government of that little community. I 
prided myself I was a great law-maker. I noted incidentally 
I was obliged to enforce the laws which I made ; but that did 
not make any difference. I thought I laid out good laws, and 
I guess they were all right. But one day I devised a scheme 
of requiring them to work for the provisions and clothing that 
they were receiving, principally the clothing. Then something 
funny happened. As I say, up to this time I had been obliged 
to make rules and regulations, but just as quickly as a portion 
of these young people came into possession of property, those 
individuals came to me and suggested rules and regulations, and 
I noted that those rules and regulations related to the protec- 
tion of property, and, as quickly as I put those rules and regu- 
lations into operation, they worked a great deal better than 
the rules and regulations which I had made. In other words, 
as quickly as they came into possession of property, they 



THE JUNIOR REPUBLIC 



became interested in laws for the protection of their property, 
and we had the beginnings of government. 

I suppose that was the germ of the Junior Republic. I 
suppose that marks the beginning of the work. But at that 
time I simply noted it as an interesting incident. I had time 
to do little more than that, because I was so busy enforcing 
the rules and regulations that they had suggested, and a 
mighty interesting half dozen weeks passed after that; but I 
am not going to tell about it because I have got to skim over 
it quickly. I have got to get to something more important. 
I will simply say that with the enforcement of the rules for 
the protection of property came the question of trial b y jury. 
First I was the whole thing. I was Judge, Jury, Chief of 
Police and Grand Executioner; but, finally, I transferred the 
power to these young people. As quickly as they were punished 
by their fellows by their own vote, I noted a very intensely 
interesting fact — that they cared a great deal more about the 
fact that their fellow citizens punished them ; that they ceased 
to be heroes in the eyes of their fellows, when the boys re- 
garded them as law-breakers; and things like that grew so 
rapidly that I devised one scheme after another, and I began to 
pride myself on the fact that I was quite a clever individual. 
But one day as I was thinking over the matter, I came to the 
conclusion that there was nothing unusually clever about it at 
all, for, after I had begun to elaborate on questions of govern- 
ment, in various directions, suddenly I said to myself, " There 
is something strangely familiar about all this. Where have 
I seen it? In any club of boys? No. In any Sunday School 
or institution or day school or preparatory school? No. 
What is there like this that is so familiar? Why! we have got 
just the same conditions of society as we have in the big 
Republic. We have here the three powers of Government — 
Legislative, Executive, and Judicial — and then we have some- 
thing else that is the same as we have in the big Republic, and 
that is the economic system — underneath this whole scheme 
runs the Almighty Dollar idea, and the ethical conditions are 
also exactly identical with those in the big Republic. We have 

8 



THE JUNIOR REPUBLIC 



a village composed of boys and girls carried on just exactly the 
same as any village outside — a miniature of the great big 
Republic — a Junior Republic." 

I went back to the city and I announced to my friends 
that the next year I was going to start a government of the 
boys and girls, for the boys and girls, and by the boys and 
girls. They laughed at me, and one great friend, a dear 
good soul and one of the best women who ever lived, said, when 
I outlined the scheme to her, " It is just like a machine I saw 
in Japan, a most beautiful machine, that had only one trouble — 
it couldn't be worked." I saw her some time after that and 
she said, " I have changed my mind ; this machine does work." 

I had my troubles. Other people said it would not work. 
However, there were two individuals who gave me a great deal 
of consolation at this time. One was Jacob Reese and the 
other was our ex-President, who was Police Commissioner in 
New York City at the time. I selected my boys and girls that 
winter of 1894 and '95, and by spring time I had them in 
pretty good shape. On July tenth we started and arrived with 
the party at Freeville, which is a little village about ten miles 
from Ithaca. We reached there on the morning of July tenth. 
When we entered the place, there was an old farm with tumble- 
down farm buildings. You can picture it in your mind. We 
had to fix up the old barn into a sort of an improvised public 
building. We had it partitioned off into certain sections. Over 
one was the word " Court " ; over another " Post Office " ; over 
another " Bank/' and over a dark passage leading to the cow 
stable was the significant word " Jail." All around were picks, 
shovels, cooking utensils, farming implements, etc. I marched 
this group of young people in there and told them we were 
going to start a Republic and they would be obliged to work 
for their support; that nothing would be given them; money 
they would be obliged to earn and that the medium through 
which they could earn this money would be the tools they saw 
about them. We said, if there were any that did not wish to 
work, we had a scheme devised for such. If there were any 
who absolutely declined to contribute anv effort at all in the 



THE JUNIOR REPUBLIC 



line of earning money, such would be supported at public 
expense, as they did that sort of thing on the outside. They 
paid little attention to that statement because they were so 
interested in what followed. I told them it would be necessary 
to have a Police Force in the place and that the Police Force 
would be composed of citizens, and asked how many of them 
would like to go on the Force, and every boy in the place 
raised his hand, and some of the girls as well. I told them 
that was all right ; that, in order to be admitted to the Force, 
it would be necessary to pass a Civil Service examination. They 
had no idea what a Civil Service examination was like; they 
thought it was a sort of a test of muscle, and several of the 
fellows began to display their biceps and thought they were 
qualified all right. They were told the Civil Service Board 
would receive them in an adjoining room and they might come 
in for trial. So they went into that place, and, for a little 
time, there were no boys in sight. But, suddenly, they began 
to emerge. You should have seen their faces. One boy came 
outside and said, " I wish my mudder had trashed me and made 
me go to school ; then I could have been a ' cop ' up here." 
Another boy said, " I ain't going to play hookey no more." 
Up to that time none of them had a very exalted idea of the 
value of a Public School education. Their parents had advised 
them to go to school and said, " Some day you will wish you 
had an education : " but they said, " No : that is the old story ; 
it is the proper thing to say," but now for the first time they 
had come to believe in the importance of having some knowledge 
of the three " R's " at least. They saw the fellows, who had 
attended school regularly, put on blue uniforms, and they were 
obliged to do something else. It was funny for several days 
after that to see the fellows studying text-books, impelled by 
the possibility that they could be ready for the next examina- 
tion to try to get on the Police Force. The other fellows 
had to take some other lines of work. Some did farming, 
carpentering or landscape gardening. The girls took up mil- 
linery, dressmaking, and cooking. Thev went to work with 
zest. Farming seemed to be the most popular. Standing near 

10 



THE JUNIOR REPUBLIC 



the farmers I overheard one fellow say to a companion, * 4 Hey, 
Tony, what was it he said about the blokes that didn't work, 
the other guys would have to pay for them ? " The companion 
replied, " Jim, he did say something of the kind." " All right," 
retorted Jimmy, " I am going to be the first one that comes 
in on that," and with that he threw down his pick and shovel 
and walked away. Tony paused a moment, gave his companion 
a sympathetic glance and said, " Jim, I am wid ye," and 
straightway threw down his tools, and both walked away and 
reposed under an apple tree near at hand. After a little time 
recruits began to come and join this company of two, so that 
the next time I visited that section I saw quite a crowd of 
boys under the apple tree who refused to complete their fore- 
noon's work. The dinner bell rang and all the boys and girls 
hastened to the dining room. Those who had not worked 
attempted to enter the dining room together with those who 
had worked; but the Policeman on duty said: " Hold on ! Yuse 
fellers what got money, come in first, and yuse who have not 
stay outside." He proceeded to divide the sheep from the 
goats ; kept those who had no money outside, and those who 
had been working walked inside and seated themselves at the 
tables. After they were comfortably located and had paid 
their money for their dinner, they began to take an interest 
in what was happening to the less thrifty group who stood 
just outside the tent door disconsolately watching the whole 
proceedings. There still remained vacant tables in the dining 
room sufficient in number to accommodate the hungry non- 
workers, but it soon became evident that the thriftless watchers 
were not to be allowed even that space, until a radical trans- 
formation in furnishing, or rather non-furnishing, had taken 
place, for out came some waiters from an adjoining room, and 
cleaned off the tables, leaving the rough boards, and then they 
brought out tin basins with soup in them, and then they brought 
hunks of bread which were placed on the tables by the side 
of the soup. The industrious boys instantly caught the idea. 
One said, " They are going to be fed just like paupers. That 
is what they are — paupers, ain't they?" "Sure," the indus- 

11 



THE JUNIOR REPUBLIC 



trious citizens cried, " that is what they are — paupers." At 
this fling, sudden animation seized the so-called paupers ; they 
threw off their coats and started to charge in the dining room 
with the evident intention of M doing up " their tormenters. 
The industrious group were more than willing they should try 
to do the job and were also willing to meet them more than 
half way, for they in turn proceeded to throw off their coats 
and also gave other indications of preparation for battle, 
but the new Police jumped between the combatants and soon 
restored order, after which the " paupers " were invited to 
take the tables which were specially prepared for them, but 
only five accepted, all the others walked away grumbling about 
things in general, with possibly two or three exceptional fellows 
who looked upon the matter from the humorous or philosophical 
standpoint and blamed no one but themselves. All non-worker-, 
however, with the exception of the five who accepted pauper 
fare, got jobs that very afternoon and did hard work, and, 
when supper time arrived, they were on hand, ready to take 
their places with the other industrious citizens. The five, 
who did not care, not only took their dinner that day, but 
also their supper and came in for their breakfast the next 
morning, and likewise their dinner at noon time, and so on 
day after day, amidst the jeers of the entire company. It 
did not affect them a bit. By and by, the citizens got angry — 
why? They discovered that their taxes were materially in- 
creased on account of being obliged to pay for these fellows. 
Then they ceased laughing at them, and their speech took on a 
more violent form. "Why should we pay for dose 'guy- ' : 
They can work just as well as de rest of us." Day after day 
their wrath increased against the pauper-. 

One day a boy rose in the Legislature, — he did not use 
as good English as he does now. for he graduated from Har- 
vard College a few years ago : but lie got up that day and 
said : ' ; Fellows. I have got something here." and he waved 
a paper, " to stop this pauper business." There was great 
applause. " It says, A fellow that is sick, let him be fed : 
but a fellow who can work and won't work, let him starve to 

12 



THE JUNIOR REPUBLIC 



death. What do you say? " They all said the same thing. 
The bill was passed with a rush. And the paupers were notified 
that at high noon on the fifteenth day of July the law was to 
% go into effect. But that did not make any difference; that 
little group went on right up to the very day, and that day 
also they started in to the dining room; but when they did 
so, a Policeman was there to see that the law should go into 
effect and he said, " Yuse fellers can hustle for a job," and 
I assure you, friends, it was not very long before they got 
work. So that settled the pauper question, at least for a 
time. 

There was a Committee appointed by the Legislature 
known as the Government Sick Committee. Its duty was to 
decide whether a fellow was sick enough to be fed at the public 
expense. They had to get a certificate from this Committee 
before they could get free meals. There was a Sunday School 
that collected money and they did not know what to do with 
the money. A little girl got up in Sunday School and said, 
" I have got an idea that the Government Sick Committee is 
awful hard-hearted. I have got a scheme. I have an awful 
nice place to put our money ; " and looked at Treasurer Billy 
Dolan. " He is the Cashier of the Bank. We will elect him 
Treasurer and give him all the money and we will give tickets 
to the fellows who are sick — those that the Government Sick 
Committee reject." They said it was a fine scheme. So they 
passed the measure. Then it was announced all through the 
Republic that the Sunday School was going to supply pro- 
visions and food for those who were sick whom the Government 
Sick Committee had rejected. There was at once an epidemic 
in the place. At that time we had three restaurants. There 
was a very swell affair, at which dined the lawyers, politicians, 
and the policemen. We called that Delmonico's. Then there was 
another place where the merchants, farmers and others dined. 
We called it Childs'. There was still a third place, a rough 
one, that we called the Beanery. Saturday afternoon, Bill, 
the Cashier of the Bank, was hurrying up to close his accounts, 
as he had an appointment to play base-ball. Suddenly he 

13 



THE JUNIOR REPUBLIC 



looked up and there was the proprietor of Delmonico's. Bill 
said, "Hurry up. What you got there?" "It won't take 
very long," replied the proprietor of Delmonico's. " I have 
got a little *bill for you to settle." " What do I owe you," 
said the Treasurer. The restaurant proprietor began to pull 
out the tickets, great handfuls of them, and piled them in 
front of the astonished Bill. He said, " You are the proprietor 
of Delmonico's, what are you doing with those tickets? " The 
reply was, "Did you ever see them before? Do you know 
what they are ? " Bill said, " I certainly do. What are you 
doing with them?" "They dined with me." "Dined with 
you?" "Yes." "Well, those tickets were meant for the 
Beanery." " You cannot see the word ' Beanery ' on any one 
of those tickets. It says, ' Good for one meal.' I guess you 
are good for it." " Do you mean those paupers dined at 
Delmonico's?" "Yes, I do." Bill said, "I won't pay it." 
" Very well, then I will sue you." Said Bill, " I don't know 
about that : I will consult my lawyer." So he went around 
to the pig pen which had been fixed up for law offices. He 
found his lawyer, one of the brightest boys in the place, and 
he said to Bill after he had explained the case, " I guess he 
has got you." So Bill went off and paid the money, and im- 
mediately thereafter hurried on with the greatest possible 
speed to call the Sunday School Committee together. They 
got together in a hurry and it did not take them long to get 
down to business. The little girl who had proposed the giving 
of the meals in the first place got up and said, " I don't think 
I will be very popular in this place, but I just have something 
I wish to say: I just want to give three cheers for the Govern- 
ment Sick Committee," and they were given with a right good 
will. Then they used their money in another way. They 
employed a nice little girl to give her entire time to missionary 
service in the Republic. 

Our time is short, therefore we will cease giving incidents 
of the first days of the Republic and pass on to other events. 
We had not been in operation a full week before I discovered 
that the thing worked, and at once saw the great possibilities 

14 



THE JUNIOR REPUBLIC 



it opened up to the boys and girls, but even then I did not 
realize how far it was to extend. People came from far and 
near^to see it, as the fame of the place went abroad. Really 
public attention was brought to the work too soon, but the 
public was very kind and forgave us for our unavoidable short- 
comings. 

Realizing dimly its possibilities, I determined to extend it at 
once, and, instead of having it as a summer work solely, to make 
it permanent. Accordingly, I planned to give up my business 
in New York City. I had a business competitor there always 
trying to buy me out, so I wrote him a letter, as quickly as 
I made up my mind to extend the Republic idea, with the 
result that he purchased my business, and then I had my entire 
time to myself. I now thought it would be well to see if I 
could find any boys who would remain with me to form a 
permanent colony. So I went around and talked with about 
fifty boys and asked them if they would like to remain ; all 
seemed pleased with the idea, I suggested they write to their 
parents. They did so and the replies that came in reduced 
the number of boys who wanted to remain to the number of 
twenty-five. Finally it came time for the summer crowd to 
return. Then I discovered that the twenty-five who were plan- 
ning to remain began to get weak-kneed. One fellow came 
around and said that he concluded that the educational 
facilities were not as good in Freeville as in New York, or 
words to that effect. He had been a proverbial truant in New 
York. Another had a sick grandmother who needed attention, 
and it would be impossible for him to remain on that account. 
Little by little, the others began to find excuses, and finally 
I began to fear that I was not going to have any one who 
would remain. When the train bearing the summer crowd 
pulled out for New York City, I felt lonesome enough, but, 
looking down the platform, after the train had disappeared, 
I saw five lonesome looking boys. These fellows were the 
nucleus of the Junior Republic. They walked back solemnly 
to the old house on the hill. My ! but it looked bleak. Every 
one was homesick. But they kept up brave hearts. We made 

15 



THE JUNIOR REPUBLIC 



one of the boys act as cook. He was the smallest fellow and 
Wcis bulldozed into the job. It happened by good fortune that 
there had been an unusually large number of potatoes raised 
that year and also quantities of tomatoes : so we would have 
potatoes and tomatoes for breakfast, tomatoes and potatoes 
for dinner, and a hash of both of these vegetables for supper. 
It is a wonder that everv one of us did not die of indigestion. 
But we were all a pretty husky lot and could stand a good 
deal of hardship, and this probably saved the day. A terribly 
cold winter followed. The temperature at one time was 30° 
below zero. The boys would awake in the morning and find 
the snow had sifted through the rafters and come down on 
their beds and they frequently found their shoes frozen to the 
floor. They froze their fingers and their noses at work or 
going and coming from the school two and one-half miles 
away, but they stuck right to their ta>k- manfully. During 
the coldest part of the winter a fellow, who had gone home 
with the summer citizens, came back. Conditions at his home 
in the city were such that we felt justified in keeping him, 
and we always regarded him as one of the pioneers. I tell you 
it was pioneer life with a vengeance, but every fellow who 
remained felt repaid for so doing. It was a good deal like 
the Pilgrims — they did not realize what they were doing at 
that time. Hundreds and thousands of boys have since said 
they wished they could have been of the number of pioneers; 
but the honor was reserved to those six only. 

Let us see how they turned out. I had the pleasure of 
seeing one of them, Jacob Smith, graduate from Cornell in 
the class of 1903. He was one of the best students of political 
science in Cornell University at that time. Not only was he 
good in his studies, but his principal fame came in the fact 
that he was the fellow who steered the Cornell Varsity boat 
at Poughkeepsie the year they established the world's record 
and it was largely due to his skill as coxswain that the trick 
wa> done. After leaving Cornell he went to Harvard Law 
School and aided in the coaching of the Harvard crew. He 
is now a lawyer in the City of Syracuse. The second boy 

1« 



THE JUNIOR REPUBLIC 



graduated from a college in Ohio and is now a lawyer in the 

City of Cleveland. The third boy is a student in Cornell 

University to-day. The fourth boy is in business for himself 

-in New York City. In this connection let me say that the wise 

ones declare that ninety per cent, of men engaging in business 

for the first time fail. We have had many boys from the 

Junior Republic who have gone into business for themselves 

after leaving the Republic, but not one mother's son of them 

has failed up to the present time. Why? Because, while 

citizens of the Republic, they engaged in business there, and 

met with the possible necessary first failure and were therefore 

equipped when they went out in the world. The fifth boy is 

in a government department at Washington. The sixth boy 

is one of my most valued helpers in the Republic work. I do 

not mean to say that this excellent showing will hold true with 

all boys who have been in the Republic ; but it will hold 

wherever I could keep them as long as I desired. 

These simple beginnings, filled to the brim with hardships 

already described, mark the start of the Junior Republic as a 

permanent institution, as opposed to an injurious device to keep 

a summer outing party from getting into mischief. For two 

succeeding years, we took a few additional summer citizens and 

then we gave up the summer idea entirely. Since the work 

became permanent a series of evolutions have taken place. I 

will enumerate some of the most important changes. When 

the work began the company was composed of children of both 

sexes from New York City. They came from the worst sections 

of the big metropolis and were of course very poor. For the 

first several months, therefore, the citizenship of the Junior 

Republic bore the stamp " Poor and from New York City." 

Soon we began to receive applications for the admittance of 

children from other places as well as New York City. We took 

them providing they were poor. As months passed by we noted 

a curious phenomenon. It was this : The boys, but not the 

girls, who caused us the greatest amount of trouble at the 

beginning of their careers at the Republic by getting into jail, 

or doing vicious things, turned out finally to be its leading and 

17 



THE JUNIOR REPUBLIC 



best citizens. Accordingly, in the case of boys, general badness 
became a qualification for admittance to the Junior Republic, 
and, when this fact became known, we got some mighty tough 
ones, let me tell you, from all over the country. We had one 
boy who sportively dropped a brick on the head of a policeman 
which gave that functionary a two weeks' vacation in the city 
hospital. The young culprit got away from the city without 
detection. He went over to New Jersey and joined a gang of 
horse thieves ; finally, stole a horse and got caught and was 
brought before the Salem Court under the name of Herbert 
Wilson. He was sixteen years of age. He pleaded guilty. He 
knew they would send him to a Reform School until he was 
twenty-one if they found out he was sixteen, but if he could 
lead them to believe he was eighteen he would be sent to States 
Prison for only two years. So he lied and told them he was 
eighteen and received but the two year sentence which he had 
anticipated. His record while in prison shows that lie was not 
one of the exemplary convicts ; he could barely read and write. 
When he came out he started to take up a life of crime, making 
a specialty of burglary. He told me this himself. I asked him 
why he did not try to be decent. He said, M It is too easy." 
I said, " No, it is a hard job. It is so hard you cannot do it." 
He seemed interested and said, '* Tell me about it." I proceeded 
to paint being decent, in the darkest colors possible. When 
I had concluded he said, " If it is as hard a job as that I think 
I would like to tackle it." He went to the Republic and became 
one of our best boys, and three years after that he entered 
Cornell University and graduated from the civil engineering 
college wherein he had made a specialty of bridge construction, 
and they say he would have been a wonder in that line had he 
not come to his death after a serious illness in the City of 
San Francisco about six years ago. I never saw a stronger will 
in a human being. 

That is a sample of what has been done with others of 
the same sort. In fact the knowledge of our successes became 
so wide-spread that we began to receive applications for the 
admittance of troublesome boys, whose parents were in good 

^18 



THE JUNIOR REPUBLIC 



circumstances and in some cases rich, but for some time I re- 
jected them on the ground that we were receiving money for 
poor boys and girls; but finally I saw no reason why the sons 
of men in prosperous circumstances should not be saved, just 
the same as those of very poor men, providing by taking the 
well-to-do we did not exclude those from poor homes entirely. 
Then I let down the bars to all boys, no matter what their 
previous social conditions might be, providing they measured 
up to the necessary standards of dare deviltry. We adjusted 
the board problem by establishing a sliding scale, the parents 
giving us money to carry on our work according to their means. 
But whether a father paid much or nothing for his boy's being 
in the Republic, the boy's position in the little village was not 
affected thereby to the slightest degree. His position in the 
community depended entirely on himself. All boys started just 
the same whether they hailed from Cranberry Point or Fifth 
Avenue : but after a few months there would be a wide differ- 
ence between some of them, for some would get along better 
than others. It might happen that the son of a millionaire 
dined in the Beanery or was in Jail for vagrancy. On the other 
hand, the son of a poor man might be dining at Delmonico's 
or residing in one of the finest cottages in the Republic. It is 
all up to the boy himself. A few years ago w T e found it better 
to increase the age limit and cease taking young children. The 
voting age was raised to sixteen years. A short time ago I 
began to take a few boys who were not bad at all to see what 
the effect would be on them, and I discovered it was beneficial 
to them. Immediately I told people that while the Republic 
was good for so-called bad boys it was also good for other 
boys as well, but this statement did not seem to attract as 
much notice as I desired. Be that as it may, the fact remains 
that the Junior Republic is good for all boys and girls, be- 
cause it is straight-out unadulterated Americanism, and teaches 
them to be citizens by being citizens, the value of labor by 
being dependent upon labor to secure their daily bread, and a 
thousand and one other things that every youth ought to know, 
in order that he may be an ideal American citizen. 

19 



THE Jl NIOB REPl BLK 



At. presenl the .Junior Republic is a village of about 800 
people altogether, including adult*. You do not know when 
von enter or leave it because there if nothing to indicate the 
boundaries. There are little cottages, lome larger, some 
smaller, and each one of these cottaget has got ;■ nice motherly 
lady not a matron thai would l>< too institutional who 
keepi the bouse, and the boy* paj her tot their board, and t hey 
pay little or much according to the quarter! in which they 
live. If tin- cottage is elaborate, the living therein costs more 
t ban in a simpler habital ion. 

About tii* work. We have tradei there. Thej are taughl 
carpentering, plumbing, printing, farming, and s lot of other 
things They are paid according to the work they perform. 
They may leavi ;i job any time they wish Eo and may try to 
gel a job somewhere else and thej may be asked for a recom- 
mendation from their last employer and run up against all the 
hard problems of political economy. There it is ;i little village 
of shops and housei and itores, and last but not Least the 
Jail. There if -• citizen'i government ;> President, a Judge 
and Police Officers, and everything is carried on just like a well- 
organized town. ;ill operated just exactly t J ■ * The only 
difference between the Junior Republic and aome viuagi 

the great Republic i- in the age of it> <iti/cii>: in tin- former 

they vote at tin- age of lixteen instead of twentj one 

Perhaps lome of you people mc ^oin^ to the football 
game. There i> an interesting character on one of the teams. 
He is one of mv Republic boys. !!<• plays right guard. 
"A-Z," you will hear the boys fall him. You will hear 
that name frequently, and you will note that A / is very much 

in the game, no matter u liirh team win-. AZ came from 

Boston. It will not be difficult to guess his parentage. He 
has inherited their characteristics and faculties. He i- ;« per- 
fect type of Irishman. Ten years ago he was a perfect terror 
down in Boston and got his father into lots of trouble. Finally 

lie got into a certain difficulty that could not he overlooked, 

and his father concluded to try sending A-Z to the Republic. 

lie came up. He looked around it ami he didn't like it at all, 

20 



J HE n. IOB BKPI BLIC 

fol 1 .. .ml li' fi» .» pla< < , l.< t Olil/lf] . J / 

.• ir, rould 

be obliged to work. Now A / a.. j<j-.i at thai m h* 

too light for li<;jvy work ;>n'J too hcAVt foi li//l(». 
TherefoN I.' concluded noi at all. A' y he 

' <\< (\ to •< l; 
him and lived on the proceed* One moi I- 

of ♦})' Bank* rhen he opened for I/', elianccd 

in tli< direction of Ui< -.;>f< To In l.orror t"! that 

if. had been opened ;>ruj the money had all disappeared from tfi<- 

'1 he Chief of Police and hi 

and ■ on of the 

I he q o do j ' luded finally 

- nothing about Ui< affair but hi rould 

turn uj> before long irho irould fj- than he 

could account for. So U<< ofnc* . 

' I). At laat tb< that A / 

A dfl r 

;t.iori jt ira* found, and he admitted, that he had robbed 
the bank, A / -: to fjnit .' 

Jail 

Now it happened thai 
tough individual . . / . 

,; anotl ' none 

Philadelphia, A / repj 
it by tr 
tant keeper. II 
CAvil 

h<: dfcbl't 

keep*. 

; / 

b 



THE JUNIOR REPUBLIC 



sleep in the woods by day and travel by night, but they did 
not get caught. In the course of time the fellow who lived 
in Chicago landed there : the fellow who lived in Rochester 
got home : the fellow who came from New York turned up at 
his home and A-Z got back in Boston. After they were all 
located we sent bov officers after them. Thev went and brought 
them back — all except A-Z. We had difficulty in getting A-Z. 
but finally he was rounded up some months afterwards and 
brought back in the custody of the officer-. Then he had 
added to his term an additional sentence for breaking Jail. 
When he got out of Jail he began to work hard and got on 
fairly well. One night in the Court there was an unusual 
Some fellow was to be tried and it happened that the 
lawyer would not serve after the Judge appointed him. All 
the lawyer- disappeared that night. They did not want to 
try that case. One of the officers went around and could not 
find a single one. The District Attorney was ready to try 
the case. The Judge said. ** I- there any one in the Court 
Room who will defend this prison* :'■ " Suddenly up rose A-Z. 
He walked down to the front and said. ** Your Honor. I will 
take hi- case-" Everybody looked at him. The Judge said. 
M You can try." He said, u Surely I can." u All right." the 
Judge said. Then A-Z -aid. M I would like about ten minute- 
to consult wid me client." He took him to one side and held 
a little conference with him. At length he returned and said. 
iv Your Honor, we are ready to proceed wid de case." T 
than ten minute- A-Z had not only the witnesses mixed up but 
the Judge, the District Attorney and the Jury to boot, and 
he got the prisoner off on a technicality. He -aid. however, 
to a friend. "This will .not save the Republic: that fellow 
ought to be in prison." Hi- -ucce-s. however, encouraged him 
to try to pass the coming examination for admission to the 
Bar. The Bar examination was before the Judge and a Com- 
mittee. They said. M We will give him an examination he 
cannot pass." A-Z went before them and went through with 
flying colors and there was nothing to do but admit him. He 
was admitted to the Bar and became the great criminal lawyer 



THE JUNIOR REPUBLIC 



of the Republic. Few and far between were the convictions 
in those days. The good citizens became indignant. They 
said, "This is an outrage. How can we stop that Irishman? " 
Now there was an election for District Attorney. The Good 
Government Party nominated a candidate and the Peoples 
Party also nominated a leading law3 r er. A group of the 
Republic under-world who chanced to have votes got together 
and nominated A-Z on an independent ticket. None of the 
good citizens thought he had the ghost of a show to be elected 
and they paid very little attention to him. A-Z, however, 
went out and conducted a whirlwind campaign and was elected 
District Attorney. His opponents said, " It means the fall 
of the Republic." A few weeks later A-Z appeared for his 
first duties as a public officer. Just before the session of 
Court, the Grand Jury meets — I do not know what time they 
met — but A-Z went before them. I went in the Court Room 
and in a very few minutes the Grand Jury left the room. I 
noticed that around the Court Room there were a number of bad 
and good citizens who had come to see the fall of the Republic. 
The room was jam full. After a while A-Z entered the room, 
smiled and walked down to the front. A little desk stood apart 
for him. He went up and threw upon it a batch of papers. 
I said, "What are those?" He replied with a comical look 
in his eye, " Say nuttin, Daddy, dem is indictments wat I got 
against me former clients." The Court opened. The first 
name was called. Something had gone wrong. The name of 
the leader of the gang was called. He walked dow r n to the 
front. Another name was called; it was the lieutenant. 
Another name ; and then the under-world said in horrified 
tones, " A-Z has gone wrong," and they started up all around 
and started to rush from the Court Room; but there was a 
Police Officer there to bar the way; they started then for the 
windows, but found there were Police Officers there also. That 
night the Jail was full; they had to carry in cots to supply 
beds for " A-Z's " prisoners. 

That boy was perfectly remorseless in his prosecution of 
crime. From that day forward he was a perfect terror to 

23 



THE JUNIOR REPUBLIC 



wrong-doers. When it was time for a new Judge to be ap- 
pointed, A-Z was appointed by the vote of all of the citizens 
for that high office. After he had been appointed several days, 
he said to me one day that he would like to get a college 
education and then he would like to be a lawyer. I said, 
; ' Do you mean it? " He said, M You bet your life I do." 
i; All right ; we will see about it," I replied. So I told some 
friends. There was a lady there who became interested in 
A-Z and said that she would teach him. She was older than 
A-Z, but not so old as to make it totally uninteresting. She 
taught him and he made rapid progress. We did not have a 
preparatory school in the Republic at that time, so it was 
necessary for him to leave later and go to a preparatory 
school. 

One night we had a party — a very swell party, by the 
way. All of the best citizens of the Republic and friends from 
the outside were there. It was a very interesting affair. A-Z 
was there and Miss W.. his tutor, was there. A young trustee 
of the Republic also chanced to be in the Republic at that time, 
and of course he was at the party. I might say that Young 
Trustee was interested in Miss W. Somebody proposed a dance 
and A-Z said to the lady. M Miss W., will you dance with 
me?" She said, "Yes, A-Z." Just about that time up came 
the Young Trustee. He said to her. " May I have the pleas- 
ure? " She said, " I have just promised A-Z I will dance 
with him." He said, " I don't think A-Z would care." A-Z 
said, " But I do care." Young Trustee walked away. They 
danced. During the dance, A-Z said to her, " He did not ask 
for the pleasure of the next dance. Miss W., will you dance 
with me next time? " She said, " I will." After the conclusion 
of the dance up came Young Trustee. " Now, I can have the 
pleasure this time. I am very certain A-Z won't mind," and 
with that remark he took Miss W. by the arm and walked to 
the centre of the room. A-Z straightened up and bawled out 
at the top of his voice, " You are no gentleman," and walked 
away. Young Trustee was disconcerted. He said, " Excuse me, 

24 



THE JUNIOR REPUBLIC 



Miss W.," and followed A-Z out on the porch. " A-Z," he 
exclaimed, as he stepped up to him, " nobody says I am no 
gentleman without fighting." 4 * All right," said A-Z, as he 
jerked off his coat. " Then," said Young Trustee, " I saw my 
finish. I knew I would last about ten seconds and it was an 
open question whether I would last that length of time. The 
boy's belligerent attitude brought me to my senses. I said 
to myself, ' Would I have treated any other young man like 
that?' and I knew that I would not. A-Z was clearly in the 
right. I owed him an apology. So I said to him, ' A-Z, I 
did not do the gentlemanly thing and I want you to forgive 
me.' ' That was too much for A-Z. He said, as he replaced 
his coat, "You are a gentleman; go in and dance with her." 

When it was learned that A-Z was going to college, he 
began to get offers from the schools in this f ashion : " Dear 
Mr. A-Z, I understand you are going to college. We are 
interested in young men who go to college. We have a place 
that we can recommend to you and where you will have to do 
very little work and we will give you free tuition. Will you 
accept? P. S. We have a fine football team in our school." 
He showed me those letters. There were a number of them 
about the same. He said, " Can you read between the lines? " 
I smiled in reply. " Well," he continued, " do you want to see 
what I replied to their letters?" With that he handed me 

the following copy : " Dear Mr. : Your letter received. 

I thank you for your kind offer, but I play football for fun. 
Yours truly, A-Z." Finally he went to a preparatory school, 
and, subsequently, entered college, and is now on the football 
team and if any of you witness the game with that college 

you will find him one of the principal contestants, and if 

makes a touch-down it will be he who kicks the goal. 

I now wish to give you the opportunity to ask any 
questions. 

A Member : How are the expenses of these boys paid 
when they get to college? 

Mr. George : If the boy's parents are well to do, he 

25 



THE JUNIOR REPUBLIC 



pays it himself, or he may earn money in the Republic and 
that money is repaid him dollar for dollar, or he may have 
money loaned to him by a friend, and, in some cases, the boys 
secure scholarships. 

A Member : How long do they generally stay in the 
Republic ? 

Mr. George: Xo specified time: some stay longer and 
some stay a shorter time; the longer they stay the better. 
They are not compelled to stay. Some come to stay a definite 
length of time. A large percentage can leave any time they 
wish. 

A Member : If any leave, without permission before the 
end of the period for which they are to stay, have your officers 
legal authority to bring them back? 

Mr. George: Xo : but they bring them back just the 
same. At one time a fellow who skipped was caught in Boston 
and brought back by the officer who did not bother with 
requisition paper-. 

A Member: Do the boys get religious instruction? 

Mr. George: The same as outside. There are churches 
on the outside of the different denominations which they attend, 
and it is a very religious place. When I say M very," it is 
in the right way. 

A Member : I would like to ask whether the girls ever 
vote. 

Mr. George: I understand the question is: Do the girls 
vote? They do. 

A Member: How does it work — giving the girls a vote? 

Mr. George: When you get the right ones, it works 
splendidly. I am getting confidential; I am speaking plain 
truths, at the risk of getting disliked. When election day 
comes, you will know to a vote so far as the boys are concerned ; 
but with the girls it is uncertain. They are just as good 
voters as a rule as the boys, but with some girls it goes a 
little too far, even to the great disgust of some of the girls. 
Some girls have changed their minds five times in a single day. 



THE JUNIOR REPUBLIC 



One girl changed her mind six times while she was walking to 
the ballot box. Others you cannot change ; they are worse 
than the boys. But they are all right. When election day 
arrives, all the boys rush to the polling place. So with some 
of the girls, but a large number will not attend. In fact that 
was so apparent that one day a girl got up in town meeting 
and introduced a bill declaring it to be a misdemeanor not 
to vote if you could vote, and then she said, " I am introducing 
this bill for the purpose of getting the girls to vote ; " but it 
was voted down by the sterner sex. But I may say also that 
where girls have held public office they have been just as 
earnest and have put just as much heart into it, and some- 
times a little more heart, than the boys. 

A Member : Do you pay them real money ? 

Mr. George: No; we have a token money, but it is re- 
deemed dollar for dollar when they leave the Republic. In 
the early days the token money was redeemable ten to one ; at 
another time five to one ; it has never, how T ever, got down 
to sixteen to one. Now it is dollar for dollar, gold standard. 

A Member: Do you find that those who have left the 
Republic after being there a proper length of time are in- 
terested in politics? 

Mr. George: That is an interesting point. I am not able 
to say that every boy who goes out from the Republic be- 
comes interested in the political situation ; ' but I know, as 
is known by every one who has had anything to do with these 
boys, that they are quite independent voters. I tried to find 
out at the last election how many citizens of the Republic 
had voted straight tickets at the preceding fall election and 
although I found some who called themselves Democrats and 
others Republicans, I could not find one of them who had 
voted a complete straight ticket. That is significant, is it not? 
They are very independent. 

In closing, I will give you our yell. We got together 
and proposed this yell. You ought to hear it given by the 
citizens when our football team is successful, which is usually 

27 



THE JUXIOR REPUBLIC 



the case. When we get more Republic citizens in Cornell, 
and other colleges, Pennsylvania will be obliged to look out 
for her football laurels. Here it is : 

"Down with the boss, 
Down with the tramp, 
Down with the pauper, 
Down with the scamp. 
Up with the freemen, 
Up with the wise. 
Up with the thrifty, 
On to the prize. 
Who are we, 
\Ye are the citizens of the G. J. R." 

I thank you. I want to extend you an invitation to visit 
the Republic. We will give you the time of your lives. 



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